LncRNAs and related molecular basis in malignant pleural mesothelioma: Challenges and potential

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare but invasive cancer, which mainly arises from mesothelial tissues of pleura, peritoneum and pericardium. Despite significant advances in treatments, the prognosis of MPM patients remains poor, and the 5-year survival rate is less than 10%. Therefore, it is urgent to explore novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of MPM. Growing evidence has indicated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) potentially could be promising therapeutic targets for numerous cancers. In this regard, lncRNAs might also potentially therapeutic targets for MPM. Recent advances have been made to investigate the molecular basis of MPM. This review first provides a comprehensive overview of roles of lncRNAs in MPM and then discusses the relationship between molecular basis of MPM and MPM-related lncRNAs to implement them as promising therapeutic targets for MPM. •This review provides a comprehensive overview of roles of lncRNAs in MPM to implement them as promising therapy targets for MPM.•Asbestos-increased ROS results in DNA mutations, epigenetic deregulations and dysregulated pathways and cellular progress in mesothelial cells, finally inducing MPM.•LncRNAs could be biomarkers utilized for diagnosis and prognosis of MPM.•LncRNAs might regulate dysregulated pathways in MPM, and regulation of lncRNAs might attenuate dysregulations of pathways in MPM.